The Arkham Knight
by alexkmz
Summary: AU where Dr. Penelope was revived by the League of Assassins to train and use her in a new plot to destroy Gotham.
1. Playing Pretend

**Chapter 1:** Playing Pretend

**Characters:** Dr. Penelope Young, Nyssa Al Ghul, Bruce Wayne

The loud hum of the helicopter almost drowned out the sound of the explosion at Wonder Tower. It was only fitting for this be the setting of his first encounter with Batman. It was where the Head of the Demon died. It was where Arkham City fell. It was a beautiful sight to see the rebuilt monument crumble once more.

He knew Batman got out of there safely. In fact, he made sure of it. The death of The Batman was important to the fall of Gotham, and The Arkham Knight wanted to make sure that it was a much better event than something so impersonal.

The night was a success. After a report was sent to HQ, The Arkham Knight decided to take the rest of the night off. He walked towards the bedroom, sheading pieces of their highly mechanized suit as they walked through the presidential suite of the pleasantly desecrate Gotham Royal Hotel. They stored the pieces in a specially made suitcase in the closet before finally taking off the helmet and returning it to its place.

She closed the case and stood, slowly sliding the closet door shut. She eyed herself in the mirror of the door for a bit, smirking softly as she thought about where she had come from.

"Penelope, come to bed. You'll need plenty of rest."

"Of course, Nyssa." Penny smirked before complying.

Two days later, Penelope was playing a much different role.

Every part of her old self was telling her that what she had done was reckless, but her new self was telling her that this was the perfect opportunity.

Wearing nothing put her panties and a large man's dress shirt, she sat on the nice antique couch in one of the many living rooms of the mansion, watching the local news.

"Anything interesting happen last night?"

Dr. Young, as the blonde and British Liara Waters, turned around, watching her bedmate come down the stairs in a pair of pajama pants.

"Not particularly." She shrugged and went back to the TV. "How did you sleep?"

"Better than usual." He came around and sat down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

What she had told him was that she was an executive from the League's cover company come to reaffirm relations with Wayne Industries and other Gotham-based companies. She had no idea part of that involved having sex with Gotham's most eligible idiot.

Fourteen years ago, if anyone had told Dr. Penelope Young that she would spend the night with Bruce Wayne, she would say something like, 'I don't 'spend the night' with idiots like him. Now get back to work.' Now, she didn't know what to think. Part of her was offended that he didn't recognize her, but then again she didn't blame him for it. They had only ever met a few times when then Warden Sharp dragged her to Arkham fundraising events. Then, it was like he looked right through her. Now, she understood Nyssa's warnings. He was infuriatingly charming, but she took comfort in knowing that he wasn't her type. If she had been her regular self, she would have never even looked at him.

"So what are you doing today?" Bruce asked, focusing more on her than the news.

She didn't hate being there. In fact, she enjoyed the previous night, but she needed to stay on target. His question was the perfect opportunity to get out of there." I have a conference call with Nyssa in two hours. I should get going soon, actually."

"Well can I take you out tonight?"

"I'll see what my schedule is and I'll call you." She got up and went towards the stairs. Penelope stopped in her tracks when her ears tuned into back to the TV.

"The founder of the Penelope Young Foundation died today in her home in Metropolis."

Penny spun around and stared at the screen, fighting the urge to cry at seeing her mother's picture on the screen.

"Jennifer Young, the mother of her foundation's namesake, was found murdered in an apparent robbery gone wrong. Police have no leads. Penelope Young, of course, was the Head of Research at Arkham Asylum who, according to authorities, was forced to create the super drug that caused the invasion of Arkham Island by The Joker, and was killed in said invasion. The foundation was created to help victims of so-called Super Criminals and their families both in Gotham and Metropolis. Jennifer was sixty-five."

Penny sucked in a breath and covered her mouth. Her eyes shined over as she shoved back her tears. Jennifer Young was the only person Penelope had ever really cared about growing up since her father was completely absent.

She couldn't cry now, though. She couldn't alert Bruce. She had to morn later.

She ran up the stairs to grab her clothes. Gotham and Batman would have to wait for their demise. Someone else was going to face justice first.


	2. Conception

Penelope's eyes snapped open as she sucked in air for what felt like the first time. Her lungs filled and she her head lightened. The rush of oxygen gave her an incredible high it would take her minutes to come down from. Why she was having it now, though, she had no idea.

The environment around her was fuzzy and dark. Her ears were flooded with the muffled sounds of voices around her. It sounded like she was underwater. She didn't realize she was only partially submerged in a large pool of green liquid. The doctor was finding it difficult to remember anything. She had a horrible pain in her head, like someone had beaten her. She looked up to the ceiling, made completely of stone like they were underground...and so far away.

Slowly, she started to piece her mind back together. She was at Arkham. Or at least she should have been. There was a riot-a break out-no-an invasion. Mr. White- Batman- Titan-_Joker_.

Dr. Penelope Young was dead.

She was never a religious woman, but this could have been hell. She certainly felt like she deserved it after what she had done. Titan was horrible. She was just as monstrous as the victims of her serum.

When she was able to being herself back together, she looked around, flinching when she noticed the man closest to her. There were people all around the 'pool' she was in, but none as close as he. He was in the pool with her. And they were all chanting something...it was terrifying. What kind of odd hell was this, and if it wasn't hell, what kind of cult had she woken up in?

_"Just breathe, Dr. Young. You're with friends now."_

"So you didn't come back last night…" Nyssa commented from the kitchen when the hotel room door opened.

"It went swimmingly." Penelope said, her face doing to a terrible job at hiding her anger. She didn't really care about hiding things from Nyssa, especially her emotions. The doctor slammed her blonde wig down on the table next to the couch before going to her computer.

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not." Nyssa said as she leaned against the archway that lead to the small kitchen area.

"I slept with him, if you want to know." Penny said absently, researching the topic of her mother's death.

"Was he good? My sister said he was quite good." The assassin teased.

"What do you want me to say, Nyssa?" The other woman finally gave up, spinning in her seat to look at her lover. "That he's everything I hoped for? He's the best of lovers?" She let out a scoff before turning back to the computer.

Nyssa looked down, clicking her tongue before she spoke. "Your mother was a liability."

Dr. Young's breath caught in her throat. She had suspicions, but never did the think Nyssa would actually do it. Her typing slowed to a halt as she tried to regain her voice. "You…"

"I made sure he did it quickly. She felt no pain."

"I told you to leave her out of this…I begged you." Penelope's hand balled into a fist on the desk. Her voice didn't rise, though. It stayed constant and calm, though her body language said otherwise.

"This is a true test, Arkham Knight. Will you let personal pain cloud your judgement?"

"Don't give me this League bullshit!" Finally, she snapped, jumping up from her chair and starting her movement towards the other woman. "I deserve more than that."

"No you don't. If you want to be a true Assassin, this is what must be done. Jennifer Young was your weakness." Nyssa rose her voice to force Penelope to listen.

Penny didn't want to hear it. She shook her head, biting her lip as she searched for the words she needed. "She was innocent. She didn't deserve this, Nyssa, you know that." When she didn't get a response, she dropped her head, picking it back up when she had something to say. "We move on Arkham tonight. If you have a problem with it, take it up with my mother."


	3. The Other Half

"Let them go." Batman's voice was cold, like usual, as he confronted the kidnapper of the family of Aaron Cash. The criminal turned slowly, showing off the highly mechanized suit made to look like…well…It looked like a metal Batman. "Who are you?" He asked the near clone in front of him, standing right where Hugo Strange was when he ordered the self-destruction of Wonder Tower the night Arkham City fell years ago.

A low, almost robotic man's voice responded to him. Batman knew it had to be a voice changer, meaning whoever this was, he wanted to keep his identity a secret. "They call me the Arkham Knight." He said, pointing to the Arkham Asylum logo on his chest. "I'm sure you'll read all about me in the research I'm sure you'll do when you return home."

"What do you want?" Batman continued his questioning.

"For now, to send a message. They say you're smart." The foe raised his hand, showing off the button in his hand. Going into detective mode, Batman followed the cord to the several packs of high explosives ready to blow hidden around them. "Connect the dots, Dark Knight."

The Arkham Knight kicked back his leg and broke the window behind him. Batman ran at him, but was too late to stop him from jumping out. Batman watched the man fall; pressing the button just before the cord went taught and snapped. Now, it wasn't a matter of getting the bad guy. It was a matter of getting out with the family safe. He grabbed the wife and son before running towards the other side of the open observation deck.

"What are you do-Ah!" Mrs. Cash screamed as they jumped out the other window, Batman quickly using his gliding skills and the propulsion of the explosion to land on a nearby building safely.

This 'Arkham Knight' was smart. But not smart enough.

Bruce was being...cautious.

Liara was beautiful. She was smart and funny and Bruce would have probably just have seen her as a normal civilian woman if she hadn't told him who she worked for. It was the League's cover company. Since she hadn't said a word about his secret, he assumed she either didn't know that he was Batman, or she didn't know who she was really working for at all, and she really was a normal civilian woman.

Either way, The League was sending a message that they were back. He didn't know yet exactly who was in charge, though. Liara had mentioned

Talia's younger sister Nyssa was the new CEO, but that didn't mean Ra's wasn't alive again, and it certainly brought up the question on whether or not Talia was alive.

He still blamed himself for her death.

When he woke up to an empty bed, he thought she had left. He was slightly disappointed. If Liara was a civilian, he would have liked to get to know her more. He got up from his nice bed and pulled on a pair of sweat pants before walking towards the stairs to the living room.

When he reached the top, he heard the sound of Vikki Vale on Gotham's morning news. He smiled a bit, happy to see his blonde bedmate sitting on the couch as he came down.

"Anything happen last night?" He asked.

"Not particularly." She said, seeming absent. Maybe she was regretting their encounter? "How did you sleep?"

"Better than usual." Bruce said honestly, coming around to join her on the couch and wrap an arm around her. "So what are you doing today?" She seemed so much less...aware than the previous night when they met. Liara seemed very much upset about something, but he couldn't figure out what.

"I have a conference call with Nyssa in two hours. I should get going soon, actually." It seemed like she couldn't get out of there fast enough.

"Well can I take you out tonight?" He needed to get more information about her. He needed to know what category she fell into; ignorant of him, or ignorant of her employer.

"I'll see what my schedule is and I'll call you." She said as she climbed out of his arm and went towards the stairs.

Bruce sighed and watched the TV, listening to the story about Jennifer Young's murder.

Dr. Young, yet another death he blamed himself for.

He stepped out of his trance when he heard Liara run up the stairs heavy footed, like she had just heard something horrible.

What was wrong? Had the news story triggered something?

That's when he remembered...Something about that night at Arkham had always puzzled him...

Why was Ra's Al Ghul's body in the morgue outside Dr. Young's office rather than the one in the medical center, and why did it disappear that night?

His eyes darted to the remote on the table. He assumed she used it to turn on the television, as most people do.

"Well, I'm off." Liara said as she trotted back down the stairs, having gotten dressed very quickly. She rushed towards the front door, almost making her escape before Bruce caught up to her.

"How are you getting back to the hotel? I can have Alfred drive you." If he was able to confirm his suspicions about her, he didn't want to run the risk of losing her by letting her take anything but something he could control.

"No, it's alright; I called a taxi it should be here soon." She gave him a nice smile and reached for the doorknob.

"I insist." He once again tried to stop her.

"There's no need." She pushed back, clearly trying to keep her cool.

Alright...if she wasn't going to take that bait, then he needed to get her to see him again. "Liara...was there something...wrong with last night?"

"No!" She said quickly. "No, of course not." The blonde smiled and reached up to kiss his cheek. "It was wonderful. I promise I'll call you later today."

Bruce let her go. Pushing her any further to stay or go with Alfred would only raise suspicions. "I look forward to it." He gave her a quick smile before letting her pass through the door.

"Goodbye, Bruce."

And with that, she was gone. The second the door closed, Bruce rushed back over to grab the remote, making sure to pick it up only at the bottom of it with two fingers as to not confuse the bat computer too much. He ran it down to the Batcave, and into the analyzer. Several fingerprints found, Bruce Wayne, Richard Grayson, Alfred Pennyworth, Barbara Gordon…

_Dr. Penelope Jennifer Young_.


End file.
